ARROW: Grant Gustin cast as The Flash in The CW’s Superhero TV Show

Grant Gustin cast in The Flash on Arrow. The casting of Grant Gustin in the second season of The CW‘s Arrow answers the question of who would a new superhero on the TV show. Grant Gustin will play Barry Allen / The Flash, a superhero with the ability at extremely fast speeds. His appearance on the show is a “backdoor pilot” for a “potential Flash spinoff” TV series on The CW.

On the people behind the scenes The Flash / Arrow strategy:

Arrow co-creators Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg as well as director David Nutter are behind the potential spinoff. Berlanti, Kreisberg and DC Entertainment’s Geoff Johns — a writer/consultant on Arrow — will pen the script for Warner Bros. Television; Nutter will direct.

On how The Flash will be handled in Arrow and in his potential spin-off series:

The potential Flash spinoff will be an origin story similar to what producers did with Stephen Amell starrer Arrow…The character, like Amell’s vigilante, will be grounded in reality and as realistic as possible. The first two episodes will see the character in Queen’s home of Starling City, with the 20th providing a window to see Barry in The Flash’s world.

Barry Allen is described a Central City assistant police forensic investigator who arrives in Starling to look into a series of unexplained robberies that may have a connection to a tragedy in his past. A comic book fan boy, Barry is obsessed with the Arrow unaware that working with Oliver and Felicity to solve the crime has brought him right into the dangerous world of the vigilante.

On TV shows’ co-existence:

We’re also exploring a very personal story for Barry — life as a forensic scientist and the people around him, the tragedies and how he deals with them — in a very different way than Oliver Queen. The intention, they noted, will be to add to Arrow instead of stripping away characters from the series should the spinoff move forward, meaning it’s likely the residents of Starling City will remain there.

On The Flash (the comic book version):

The Flash (Bartholomew Henry “Barry” Allen) is a fictional character, a superhero in the DC Comics universe. He is the second character known as the Flash. The character first appeared in Showcase #4 (Oct. 1956), created by writers Robert Kanigher and John Broome and penciler Carmine Infantino. His name combines talk show hosts Barry Gray and Steve Allen. His death in 1985 removed the character from the regular DC lineup for 23 years. His return to regular comics occurred in 2008 within the pages of Grant Morrison’s Final Crisis limited series.

Born to Henry and Nora Allen, Barry Allen is a police scientist (his job title was changed to a forensic scientist in The Flash: Iron Heights one-shot) with a reputation for being very slow, deliberate, and frequently late, which frustrates his fiancee, Iris West. One night, as he is preparing to leave work, a lightning bolt shatters a case full of chemicals and spills them all over Allen. As a result, Allen finds that he can run extremely fast and has matching reflexes. He dons a set of red tights sporting a lightning bolt, dubs himself the Flash (after his childhood comic book hero, Jay Garrick), and becomes Central City’s resident costumed crimefighter. Central City University professor Ira West (Iris’ adoptive father) designed Allen’s costume (reminiscent of the original Fawcett Captain Marvel) and the ring which stores it while Allen is in his civilian identity.The ring can eject the compressed clothing when Allen needs it and suck it back in with the aid of a special gas that shrinks the suit. In addition, Allen invented the cosmic treadmill, a device that allowed for precise time travel and was used in many stories. Allen was so well liked that nearly all speedsters that come after him are often compared to him. Batman once said “Barry is the kind of man that I would’ve hoped to become if my parents hadn’t been murdered.”

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A Political Science and MBA grad who started FilmBook during an eCommerce B-School course in 2008. Cinema and TV addict. Former writer at Empire Movies, Blogcritics, and Alternative Film Guide. In addition to writing for FilmBook, he also edits the copy published on the website, manages its writing staff, manages the back-end operations, site finances, its social network accounts, and works with publicists, actors, and companies on press coverage and promotions. He has also created ProMovieBlogger.com and Trending Awards.com.